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sandeepthefifth1
sandeepthefifth1
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H.264 gamma shift/washed out colours on export

Sep 10, 2012 1:12 PM

Tags: #export #h264 #washed_out #desaturated #gamma_shift

I know this has been discussed before but I've been researching this topic for the past two hours and still can't find a solution.

 

I have .mov source files from a Canon 7D. Exporting them from PP CS5.5 (Mac OS X - Lion, 10.7.4) in h.264 or by 'matching sequence settings' results in a gamma shift/desaturated colours. Playing the resulting h.264 file in QuickTime Player, VLC, Elmedia all result in the same colour shift so this is not an issue with QT simply interpreting the gamma incorrectly.

 

Uploading to Vimeo and Youtube results in the same gamma shift. The monitor I'm using is not calibrated but when puling up a VLC window of the exported file next to the Program Monitor (on the same monitor) shows that there is a definite difference. Below is a screenshot.

 

Is there any way to produce an exported file for Vimeo use that reproduces the gamma as I see it in the Program Monitor?

Any help would be massively appreciated.

 

Thanks.Gamma shift.png

2178 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: ComputerNovice25, Sep 11, 2012 5:29 AM
 
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  • Bill Hunt
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    1. Bill Hunt,
    Sep 10, 2012 1:34 PM   in reply to sandeepthefifth1
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    Before I went about adjusting things, I would try in another player, besides QT. It is known to have Gamma issues, and also color issues, though I know of those mainly from QT on the PC, but perhaps it's the same, or similar on the Mac?

     

    Good luck,

     

    Hunt

     
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  • sandeepthefifth1
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    2. sandeepthefifth1,
    Sep 10, 2012 1:37 PM   in reply to Bill Hunt
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    I am aware of the issues that QT has and so I have tried it in other media players but they all look the same as each other. This is the same for Vimeo and Youtube also. The only place it looks different is in Premiere Pro.

     
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  • Bill Hunt
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    3. Bill Hunt,
    Sep 10, 2012 2:21 PM   in reply to sandeepthefifth1
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    OK, and thanks for that clarification. I did not want you joisting with windmills, when it was but a player issue.

     

    Now, I have not encountered what you showed, and am also a PC-only guy, so not sure how much help I can be. However, there are some great folk here, and they will be by soon, with some useful ideas.

     

    Good luck,

     

    Hunt

     
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  • ComputerNovice25
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    4. ComputerNovice25,
    Sep 10, 2012 8:19 PM   in reply to sandeepthefifth1
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    Did you use Quicktime's H.264 export option? Or just standard h.264 using the .mp4 container? If you used the Quicktime h.264 the option itself is flawed. Here are some links regarding the issue.

     

    http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/cmg_blogs/story/brightness_issu es_with_h264_quicktime_movies/

     

    http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2008/06/fix-quicktime-gamma-shift/

     

    http://imnotbruce.blogspot.com/2011/07/fixing-quicktimes-gamma-export- problem.html

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1358418?start=0&tstart=0

     

    http://byteful.com/blog/2010/07/how-to-fix-the-h264-gamma-brightness-b ug-in-quicktime/

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/8551140?messageID=8551140#855114 0?messageID=8551140

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2292530?start=0&tstart=0

     

    If you read around the net a lot of people have had this issue with h264. A couple of the articles I posted are supposed to "fix" the problem although I haven't ever tried any of them myself. I've never experinced a gamma shift when using the standard h.264 format option in Premiere, however if you have already used that option and you're still having issues then I have no clue what is going on. However when I import ProRes files into Premiere they don't appear washed out, but when I play them in Quicktime or VLC they do appear washed out. I've always just assumed Premiere was somehow correcting it, because when I export my video to mpeg-2 for playback on our server it looks like it looked in Premiere.

     

    From what I have read though the reason the Quicktime format does this when using the h.264 codec looks and looks washed  out is because of a incorrect gamma tag. But Premiere isn't affected/fooled by this like most media players are. According from how they made it sound on provideo and the one other site I read it on anyways.

     
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  • sandeepthefifth1
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    5. sandeepthefifth1,
    Sep 11, 2012 4:42 AM   in reply to ComputerNovice25
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    Thanks for the information ComputerNovice25.

     

    I use the standard H.264 option when encoding from PP or Media Encoder. There are H.264 Blu-Ray and Quicktime options but I use H.264 which results in /mp4 files. Strangely, even when I use MPEG-2 or MPEG4 I'm still seeing the same issues.

     

    I have a feeling that my problem is not limited to the H.264 codec but, like you said, something to do with how PP is interpreting the footage for playback. If this is the case, would the simple solution be to compensate for the gamma shift before encoding - so the footage looks too dark in PP - but acceptable when playing afterwards?

     
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  • ComputerNovice25
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    6. ComputerNovice25,
    Sep 11, 2012 5:06 AM   in reply to sandeepthefifth1
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    Since you're having issues with mpeg-2 I know something wierd is for sure going now. Do you have a NVIDIA graphics card? Sometimes when people have NVIDIA GPU's and they have their color range set to limited 16-235 it causes stuff in their media players to look washed out. I'm not sure how to weak this on a mac though but you need to make sure your colors aren't set to 16-235 because that's what I'm starting to suspect, because I haven't ever had issues with mpeg-2 appearing "washed out". Unless their is some wierd bug going on here.

     

    Also often times with mac's you need to check the following settings

    Check this too... Scroll to the bottom of the post there is also one towards the middle that might help.

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3718001?start=0&tstart=0

     

    There are a couples settings mac's have that make things look washed out. Also could you upload a small test file that I could check on my system? The reason I don't think it would be good to make the color darker is because I'm thinking this is probably a GPU/OS on your specific machine possibly causing the issue. Video used to be washed out on my PC too but once I found the 16-235 and changed it then all my media players looked correct. Before they looked terrible though and Premiere looked okay.

     

    Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a bug but I don't think it is, because I use mpeg-2 several times a day when I export for  broadcast and I haven't ever had it wash my video out in any media player at all unless my GPU settings weren't correct.

     
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  • sandeepthefifth1
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    7. sandeepthefifth1,
    Sep 11, 2012 5:10 AM   in reply to ComputerNovice25
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    I do indeed have an NVIDIA card - NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256 MB - running on OS X 10.7.4. Your theory sounds quite close to what the problem actually could be.

    Here's a test clip (mp4) - https://www.dropbox.com/s/12h1htyacchr8dk/Gamma%20test%206.mp4

    Here's an MPEG2 for comparison as well - https://www.dropbox.com/s/tprd7k7blprpztl/Gamma%20test%207.mpg

     

    Both look identical in both VLC and QT, ie. washed out compared to what I'm seeing in PP.

     
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  • ComputerNovice25
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    8. ComputerNovice25,
    Sep 11, 2012 5:29 AM   in reply to sandeepthefifth1
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    On my computer VLC matches Premiere perfectly, I'd recommend trying some of the tweaks I mentioned.

    VLC AND PREMIERE.JPG

     

    Then on my computer KMplayer actually appears darker than Premiere.

    KMPLAYER.JPG

     
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